Feeding the Seagulls

{I am behind on blog posts, but I have decided that instead of trying to post them all in order, and try to catch up, I am just going to post recent pics and then try to fill in the posts I missed when I have a chance. I still need to post pics of our move, Valentine's Day, Lena's birthday, and some other random pics. I'll fill those in later when I have the time.}

This was our Spring Break week.  Yesterday was the first warm spring day here in Kenosha.  It was our second day over 50 (the first was Good Friday when we barely hit 50), and it was almost 60. It was quite windy, but still sunny and lovely.  We originally planned to take a picnic lunch to the lakeshore, but decided it was too windy for that.  We set off to find a fun place for lunch, then head to the beach to feed the seagulls and play at the park, and then maybe hit a museum.

 Kenosha has streetcars.  They were on the move yesterday.

Following that theme, we had lunch at Trolley Dogs.  The girls got "Octo-Dogs".

 As you can probably tell from this picture, Lena wasn't feeling too good.  She had a bit of a fever the day before, but it was much better in the morning.  Then when we were having lunch, she started complaining of feeling really cold and we knew it had returned.  She was a real trooper, though, trying to enjoy the warm weather even though she didn't feel great.  We decided to cut our day short and skip the park and the museum and just feed the seagulls after lunch.

 Eva cuddles while waiting for our food.

 There is a little toy trolley that runs along a track near the ceiling.  The kids love it.

We bagged up our uneaten french fries and headed to the beach.  The lakeshore is exactly 2 miles from our house!  We think it's incredible living this close to the lake.  It's so gorgeous.  

 Such a beautiful day.

 Jim pretended to throw Eva into the lake.  At first she screamed bloody murder, but when she figured out that Daddy wasn't really going to throw her in, she thought it was great fun.

 Seagull footprints in the sand.

 Good thing they got new sunglasses for Easter.

 The seagulls were excited to see us approach with a bag of goodies.  Besides the french fries, we also brought some stale bread from home.

 The seagulls go CRAZY when you start throwing food around.

 We had lots of fun watching them catch french fries in mid-air.  Can you see the fry in his mouth?  (You can click on the photos to make them bigger.) It's so cool!

Here's a video of the seagulls catching food in mid-air:

It's amazing how close they get to you.  They aren't shy at all!  Here's a video of Jim almost getting one seagull to eat out of his hand:

I got some really great close-up pics of them this way.  I think they are really pretty birds.

The girls had fun throwing food out to them.  They catered more to the birds wading around in the water.

The stuff I brought from home included some stale flour tortillas.  I didn't know if they would like them or not, but thought it was worth a shot.  I kept catching Eva eating them when she thought I wasn't looking.  "Eva, don't eat that!  Give it to the birdies!"  What a goof!

Here's a video of Eva feeding the birds:

Look how happy and satisfied they are now!

Lena had fun looking for unique rocks and "fossils".

Lena and Daddy.

Love this one.

Lena was totally ready to go home by now.  She still has a fever today, so we canceled our plans with the Chrysts (we were going to have lunch and go to a movie to celebrate Helena's birthday) and are just spending a quiet weekend at home.